Slowly lifting the spoon, the woman dipped it in the soup. She tasted it and kept the spoon in the bowl of soup. Picking up a piece of paper placed near her hand, she opened her mouth.
"Jaden went out with Lady Rosenstein, you say?"
Julianne asked while crumbling the paper she had received from a maid.
-I'll be taking your brother out. Don't worry; I'll make sure he is safe. We will attend the banquet together. He agreed to be my partner.
-Aliana Rosenstein.
Reading the contents of the paper, Julianne could feel her heart ache.
'What if something happens to Jaden too? He's the only one left.'
She was anxious since Jaden was her only family. In the past years, when Jaden used to fall sick all the time, Julianne would stay by his side throughout the night.
Sigh
She sighed as she looked at the crumbled paper. She had her share of worries.
"I can't be rude to Lady Rosenstein."
It would be a lie if she said that she wasn't angry at what Lady Rosenstein had done. But a part of her chose to keep silent about it.
'She helped us when we were in grave danger.'
Not because of their social status, but because she felt that she owed a great debt to Lady Rosenstein.
'I should still ask someone to follow them. Just in case something goes wrong...'
It wouldn't hurt to have someone look after Jaden and Aliana from a distance.
"Madam, should we ask someone to tail them?"
A knight was standing next to the dining table. His attire was a formal one. A white shirt with embroidery of blue lines on the edges and a white pant, along with formal shoes.
"Kinghts commander Blaine. There is no need for the time being. We will trust Lady Rosenstein for now."
The second-strongest sword user in the Brimstone family's forces. He wasn't a sword master, but Blaine was strong enough to be compared with one of the sword masters.
"As you wish."
He would complete a task as quickly as possible if Julianne asked him to. He had been serving the Brimstone family for the past 20 years.
His face made him mistake him for someone in his twenties, but he was over 40 years old. With his brown hair and green eyes, anyone would fall for his looks.
'I have no time to waste. I need to prepare for tonight's banquet.'
She wasn't really excited to attend it. The only reason she was looking forward to it was because it was Jaden's birthday too.
Tap
She got up from the chair and left the dining room. Walking towards her office, she only wondered what Jaden and Aliana would've been doing at the same time.
'It's been already 12 years.'
Julianne was 25 years old. It was 12 years ago that the Brimstone family had to go through drastic changes. And the reason it happened was because of an unprecedented and unfortunate event.
'Just where did they go?'
Julianne had the terror of that unfortunate day engraved in her heart. She was merely a 13-year-old kid when she heard shocking and unbelievable news from Blaine.
-"Duke and Duchess whereabouts are unknown. We tried to look for them everywhere, but there were no good results."
Duke Brimstone was one of the strongest sword masters in Dragonaria. Duchess Brimstone was a researcher whose interest was mainly in ancient civilizations. Their going missing was not something to be taken lightly. But the Emperor took no action.
'They said that they would have royal guards look into it. But they never did.'
Even after years of searching at the site where they were last seen, no results were yielded. It was like they simply vanished into the air.
"Would things have turned out differently if father and mother were here?"
With the disappearance of Duke and Duchess Brimstone, another tragedy followed. The youngest son's condition worsened.
He used to fall sick from time to time, but it had become more frequent soon after his parents disappeared.
At that time, Julianne and Jaden, who were not of legal age, would have needed to let the royal family handle their properties. But someone existed who took the responsibility of looking after the affairs of Duchy on himself. That person was no one else but Blaine.
"Not to say, I owe her my life."
Julianne sat on the chair by her study table. The table had a pile of papers on it, but it still looked well organised.
She put an hourglass right aside the pen stand. Watching the sand fall through it, she could remember the incident that occurred over a year ago.
'I would've died for sure if not for her.'
One of the demon generals tried to abduct Julianne. The incident was hidden by the royal family on the pretence of not making the public live in fear.
The royal family had not even shown up after they heard the news of what had occurred. The only person who helped the Brimstone family was Lady Rosenstein.
"Why did they try to abduct me...?"
That's the only question Julianne has had on her mind since that time. She couldn't get it out of her head. But it wasn't like she would get any answers to it. So she stopped asking herself that question.
Ring ring
She rang the bell on her table to call a maid. And a maid came rushing upon hearing the tiny yet audible sound.
"Call Rudia. I need to ask her something."
Upon hearing the command, the maid had a conflicting and questionable look on her face.
"What's the matter?"
Julianne could tell that the maid was worried about something.
"Actually... Apparently, it looks like sister Rudia had to take an emergency leave due to private problems. She left earlier, right after the young master left."
Rudia had left the Brimstone residence without properly explaining it to Julianne.
"Something serious might've happened..."
Julianne knew that Rudia wasn't the type to skip her work for no reason.
"You may leave."
The maid left the room as soon as Julianne gave her permission. The darkness brimmed within the room when the curtain covered the window.
She stood up with her hands on the table and sighed. The hourglass on the table ran out of sand. Looking at the hourglass, she only thought of one person.
"Jaden..."
-----------------
"Jaden! Are you even listening to me?"
Aliana was talking in a loud voice.
Clip clop
The knights escorting her could hear her sound from inside the carriage. And as for Jaden?
'I want to go home.'
He sat opposite Aliana. His face was as pale as ever. He swallowed his saliva as he tried to hold himself back from throwing up.
'To think I would get motion sickness from riding a carriage... It can't get any worse.'
He was in the body of a person who never left his house. This was bound to happen. He could feel it rise up to his throat.
'And on top of that...'
Jaden glanced at Aliana and closed his eyes.
"Jaden-"
He could hear her calling his name out, but he still kept quiet.
"Jaden-"
Aliana kept on speaking, while Jaden kept on ignoring.
'Just shut up already-!!!!!!!'
Jaden was already having trouble riding the carriage, and Aliana speaking non-stop was a bonus to that.
"Ugh..."
Jaden made a sound unconsciously. He was feeling worse.
"Wait... Are you feeling sick by chance?"
Aliana had not even noticed it.
'Can't you tell from my face?'
Jaden had an awkward smile on his face.
"I couldn't tell from your face at all."
Aliana had the least expected words every time she spoke.
"Can you ask them to stop the carriage for a while?"
Jaden was at his limit now. His nausea was getting even worse.
"No can do. We need to be on time for shopping."
Aliana said this while swaying her hands in the air.
"Instead..."
Snap
With a snap of her finger, she made a green light glow around Jaden. As the light faded, Jaden could tell that he wasn't feeling sick anymore.
"This is healing magic."
Aliana folded her hands and looked at Jaden.
"I have never heard of magic like this."
There was no healing magic that could treat some ailments like nausea, motion sickness, and the like.
"I altered it."
Aliana said while looking out of the window. Jaden stopped talking for a while. Then he remembered something.
"... Do you know how to take this jacket off?"
Jaden said this while looking at his outfit.
"Don't tell me... You didn't..."
Aliana's face looked grim. Jaden gulped down his own saliva.
"Take a bath this morning?"
He had not. He kept quiet as his ears turned bright red.
"Let me help you out."
Snap
Aliana snapped her fingers again. This time it was a blue light. Jaden could feel a cold sensation on his skin.
"Huh?"
He was feeling refreshed. It felt like he just got out of bath.
"This is the spell I came up with about a few years ago."
Aliana had used an unheard spell yet again. But that wasn't what bothered Jaden.
'Just how many attributes can you use...?'
Usually, a person has an affinity for one element. There were rare cases where one had an affinity for two or three elements.
But for Aliana, it seemed not to be the case. She had used wind magic, fire magic, healing magic, and just a while ago, water magic too.
'This doesn't make any sense...'
He stared at Aliana, who was watching out of the window.
'I should stop thinking about logic...'
Jaden smiled at Aliana as she looked at him with a clueless expression.
"You should just learn this magic later on..."
Aliana said this as she made water float around her hand. She was playing with it.
"I will try to."
Jaden couldn't say otherwise when he saw Aliana's playful smile.
"Good."
Aliana was cheerful as always. Jaden did nothing but smile back at Aliana.
Soon, their conversation died. Jaden had no idea about how to keep up with others. The actual perks of being an introvert.
"We are almost about to reach there."
The coachman opened the small window in the carriage and informed Aliana.
"How much time till we reach there?"
Jaden kept quiet as he heard their conversation.
"Just a bit more. We will be there soon."
The coachman shut the window.
"Where are we going though...?"
Jaden wasn't told anything about where they were going. He was simply following her as the only option for him.
"Be patient. You'll see for yourself soon."
Aliana wanted to keep it a secret until they arrived there. Her smile made him feel as if it was something good.
Maybe it was supposed to be a special place... But there was no telling what Aliana might actually pull off.
Jaden was getting more curious as time passed. He managed to keep his thoughts to himself.
"We still have some time, I suppose."
Aliana said this while peeping out of the window.
"How much do you know about Dragonaria's division of places?"
Aliana looked at him with serious eyes.
"Are you talking about the parts of the empire?"
Jaden was puzzled by her question. She asked it out of nowhere.
"Yes. How much do you know?"
Aliana was being serious for some reason. Jaden could tell from her eyes.
"North-east is the part where most commoners stay. As for the most nobles, it's the south-east. North-west is where the slums are located, and south-west is the worst place. In the centre of this all, there's the imperial palace."
Jaden knew almost everything about Dragonaria. He was the author of the novel, after all.
Aliana kept quiet and thought about something for a while. The frown on her eyebrows eased as she spoke.
"More than enough..."
She muttered this to herself while still being in deep thoughts. That's when the two inside the carriage shook suddenly.
Thhhhnk
The carriage came to a halt. Someone opened the door.
"Madam. We've arrived."
The knight, who looked to be in his fifties, said it with a rough voice.
"Don't get lost, ok?"
Aliana asked Jaden as she got out of the carriage. Usually the knight would've offered her a hand while she was getting down, but Aliana had ordered them not to do so since the beginning.
"May I ask you to take my hand?"
Aliana grinned as she offered her hand to Jaden. Usually the man is supposed to lend his hand to the woman while she is getting down the carriage.
This ticked a bomb within Jaden's mind. He bit his lips with frustration.
'Hah-? This b*tch-'
Jaden was pissed and jumped down the carriage by himself. This was his way of taking revenge for that teasing she just tried on him.
Everyone fell silent. Aliana looked at the knights with a furious smile.
"Can you leave us alone now?"
The knights knew they would've been punished later if they disobeyed Aliana here. Their bodies shook as they spoke in an unison.
"Y-yes, madam."
After that, only Jaden and Aliana were left all alone. Along with the shred of awkwardness between them.
"Hah~"
Aliana grabbed Jaden's hand and pulled him behind her. Turning around, she had a bright smile.
"Let us begin our date."